JP2000261640A - Method for controlling network facsimile communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable manager user to properly attain the communication management of network facsimile equipment by preparing a communication management report in a prescribed format, based on preserved communication history information at receiving of an electronic mail related to a request for the transmission of a communication management report. SOLUTION: At receiving of an electronic mail to the destination of its own terminal, network facsimile equipment FX obtains the received electronic mail from a mail server device SM. When the received electronic mail is a command main, the network facsimile equipment FX obtains 'From address' of the electronic mail at that time, and analyzes the contents of a command character string. When the received electronic mail is related with a request for the transmission of a communication management report, a communication management report in a prescribed format is prepared, based on plural communication history information preserved at that time, and the header information of an electronic mail to the destination of the 'From address' obtained at that time is prepared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus connected to the Internet and exchanging facsimile data with a facsimile apparatus via a public network by using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure. The present invention relates to a control method for a network facsimile communication system including one or more connected workstation devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a network facsimile apparatus connected to a local area network and exchanging facsimile data with a facsimile apparatus using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure via a public network, A network facsimile communication system including one or more connected workstation devices has been put into practical use.

When such a network facsimile communication system is used, image information can be transmitted from a plurality of workstation devices connected to a local area network to a facsimile device connected to a public network. It is convenient.

[0004]

However, such a network facsimile communication system has the following disadvantages.

[0005] To monitor communication history information of the network facsimile apparatus, any one of the workstation apparatuses is assigned. Communication software used by the user to refer to internal information of the network facsimile apparatus is provided by the Internet. A specific port number of TCP / IP, which is a standard protocol used for communication, is applied.

However, the communication software used to refer to the internal information of the network facsimile apparatus is relatively new, and the port number used by the communication software for communication is a so-called port number. It is not included in the well-known port number.

On the other hand, in a corporate local area network, a so-called firewall is often provided at a connection point with the Internet in order to cope with an attack on the network from the outside.

The firewall allows the TCP / IP data of the well-known port number to pass therethrough, but does not allow the TCP / IP data of the other port numbers to pass through the inside of the corporate local area network.

Therefore, when the workstation device used by the administrator is located outside the corporate local area network to which the network facsimile device is connected, the user of the workstation device can use the network facsimile device. Since the internal information of the device cannot be referred to, the situation has arisen that the work for communication management is hindered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a control method for a network facsimile communication system that enables an administrator user to appropriately perform communication management of a network facsimile apparatus. .

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus connected to the Internet and exchanging facsimile data with a facsimile apparatus via a public network using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure. In a method for controlling a network facsimile communication system including one or more workstation devices connected to the Internet, the network facsimile device forms and stores communication history information, and a user of the workstation device communicates with the network device. Requesting the facsimile apparatus to send a communication management report using an e-mail, and the network facsimile apparatus receives the e-mail related to the transmission request for the communication management report and, based on the stored communication history information, , Place Create a format communication management report,
The content of the communication management report is transmitted to the requesting user by e-mail.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 shows a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a local area network LAN includes a plurality of workstations WS1 to WS1.
WSn, the mail server device SM, and the network facsimile device FX are connected.

Here, the mail server device SM collects well-known e-mails for users using the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN and for the network network facsimile device FX. It provides distribution services.

The workstation devices WS1 to WSW
In Sn, facsimile application software (facsimile communication means) for creating and displaying and outputting facsimile image information, and various kinds of data exchange via a local area network LAN, while executing group 3 facsimile transmission procedure processing Various programs such as various software are introduced and used by a specific user. Here, the specific user may be one or more users.

Further, the network facsimile machine FX
A server function for providing a facsimile modem function and the like to the workstation devices WS1 to WSn connected to the local area network LAN, an e-mail processing function for exchanging image information as e-mail, and a public network (PSTN), and has a transmission function of transmitting image information by a group 3 facsimile transmission procedure using this public network as a transmission path.

FIG. 2 shows a network facsimile apparatus F
3 shows an example of the configuration of X.

In FIG. 1, a system control unit 1 controls each unit of the network facsimile machine FX.
The system memory 2 stores various control processes such as a facsimile transmission control procedure process. The system memory 2 stores a control process program executed by the system control unit 1 and various data necessary for executing the process program. The parameter memory 3 stores various kinds of information unique to the network facsimile machine FX. The clock circuit 4 stores current time information. Is output.

The scanner 5 is for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution, the plotter 6 is for recording and outputting an image at a predetermined resolution, and the operation display unit 7 is a network facsimile apparatus. It is used to operate the FX, and includes various operation keys and various display devices.

The encoding / decoding section 8 encodes and compresses the image signal and decodes the encoded and compressed image information into the original image signal.
This is for storing a large number of image information in a coded and compressed state.

The group 3 facsimile modem 10 is for realizing a group 3 facsimile modem function. The group 3 facsimile modem 10 has a low speed modem function (V.21 modem) for exchanging transmission procedure signals, and mainly exchanges image information. High-speed modem function (V.17 modem,
V. 34 modem, V.34. 29 modem, V.29. 27ter modem etc.).

The network control device 11 is for connecting the facsimile machine to the public network (PSTN) and has an automatic transmission / reception function.

The local area network interface circuit 12 is connected to the network facsimile machine F
X is connected to the local area network LAN, and the local area network transmission control unit 13
This is for executing communication control processing of various predetermined protocol suites for exchanging various data with other data terminal devices.

The system control unit 1, system memory 2, parameter memory 3, clock circuit 4, scanner 5, plotter 6, operation display unit 7, encoding / decoding unit 8, image storage device 9, group 3 facsimile modem The network controller 10, the network controller 11, and the local area network transmission controller 13 are connected to an internal bus 14. Data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via the internal bus 14. I have.

Data exchange between the network controller 11 and the group 3 facsimile modem 10 is directly performed.

Here, in this embodiment, basically,
Data exchange between terminals connected to the local area network LAN is a so-called TCP / I
This is performed by applying a combination (a so-called protocol suite) of a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called P and a communication protocol of a higher layer than that. For example, in the exchange of e-mail data, SMTP (Simple) is used as the upper layer communication protocol.
A communication protocol called Mail Transfer Protocol is applied.

The protocol applied by each terminal to the mail server device SM for confirming the receipt of an e-mail addressed to the user and for requesting transmission is so-called POP.
(Post Office Protocol) or the like can be applied.

Communication protocols such as TCP / IP, SMTP, and POP, and data formats and data structures of e-mails are described in IETF (In).
ternet Engineering Task F
orce), an RFC (Request) issued by an organization that summarizes technical content related to the Internet.
st For Comments) document. For example, TCP is RFC793, IP is RFC
793, SMTP is RFC821, E-mail format is RFC822, RFC1521, RFC1522
(MIME (Multi Purpose Mail
Extension)).

Then, the network facsimile apparatus F
X transmits the read document image to another group 3 facsimile apparatus via the public network PSTN, or a local area network LAN (further, the Internet)
To the users of the workstation devices WS1 to WSn via the public network PSTN, and the image information received from another group 3 facsimile device via the public network PSTN to the user corresponding to the sub-address specified at that time. Transfer using e-mail, or workstation WS of local area network LAN
It has a transfer service function for transferring the received image information to a group 3 facsimile apparatus of the public network PSTN corresponding to the designated speed dial.

For an electronic mail received to the terminal itself, the image information arranged in the body information is extracted and recorded and output.

Here, the facsimile image information is binary data, and the electronic mail cannot directly include the binary data. Therefore, a predetermined conversion method (for example,
After being converted into readable information (7-bit character code) by applying the Base64 encoding method, it is included in the electronic mail. Such a format of the body information of the electronic mail is called a MIME format.

With the above configuration, the network facsimile machine FX executes the processing as shown in FIG.

That is, whether there is a transmission operation from the user,
Alternatively, it is monitored that an incoming call is detected from the public network PSTN (NO loop of determinations 101 and 102), and when the user performs a transmission operation, and if the result of determination 101 is YES, the destination specified at that time is determined. It is checked whether it is a mail address (decision 103).

If the destination specified by the user is a mail address and the result of determination 103 is YES, the image of the original set on the scanner 5 at that time is read (process 104), and the image data obtained thereby is read. Is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 8 (process 105), and the image information data obtained thereby is subjected to a predetermined MIME conversion process to create body information of the electronic mail (process 106), and the designated mail The header information of the e-mail is created by applying the address and the mail address of the own terminal, an e-mail is created (processing 107), and the e-mail including the header information and the body information is transmitted to the mail server SM (processing). 108).

When the designated transmission operation is completed as described above, communication history information including predetermined information is created and stored (step 109), and the process returns to the standby state.

If the destination specified by the user is a telephone number and the result of determination 103 is NO, the image of the original set on the scanner 5 at that time is read (process 110), and the image is obtained. The encoded image data is encoded and compressed by the encoding / decoding unit 8 and stored in the image storage device 9 (process 111), and a call is made to the designated destination using the network control device 11 (process 112).

Then, a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed with the partner terminal to set a transmission function to be used at that time (step 113), and a predetermined modem training procedure is executed and used at that time. Determine the modem speed (Step 11
4) The image information stored in the image storage device 9 is transmitted according to a predetermined transmission procedure (step 115).

When the image information transmission is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 116), and when the line is restored (step 1).
17), proceed to a process 109, create and store communication history information including predetermined information, and return to a standby state.

On the other hand, if an incoming call is detected and the result of determination 102 is YES, a line is established in response to the incoming call (process 120), a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed, and a transmission function used at that time is executed. And the like (process 121), execute a predetermined modem training procedure, determine the modem speed to be used at that time (process 122), receive image information in accordance with the predetermined reception procedure, and send it to the image storage device 9. It is stored (process 123).

When the reception of the image information is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (process 124), and when the line is restored (process 125), the flow shifts to process 109 to create communication history information including predetermined information. To save and return to the standby state.

The network facsimile machine FX
As shown in FIG. 4, at a predetermined time interval, the mail server device SM inquires whether an e-mail addressed to its own terminal is received (process 201), and receives an e-mail addressed to its own terminal. If the result of the determination 202 is Y
ES), and transmits the received e-mail to the mail server device S
It is obtained from M (process 203).

Then, the contents of the e-mail are analyzed to check whether the received e-mail is a command mail (decision 204). Here, the command mail is, for example, “Comma” in the Subject field.
A command character string such as “nd Request Report” (a character string in which a reserved word “Command” is disposed at the beginning) is arranged, and the content of the command in this case is “Request Report”.
"t" is a command for requesting transmission of a communication management report.

If the result of the determination 204 is YES, the network facsimile machine FX acquires the From address of the electronic mail at that time (processing 205), analyzes the contents of the command character string (processing 206), and receives the received electronic mail. A check is made to determine whether the mail has requested transmission of the communication management report (decision 207).

If the result of determination 207 is YES, a communication management report in a predetermined format is created based on the plurality of pieces of communication history information stored at that time (Process 2).
08), and creates header information of an e-mail addressed to the From address obtained at that time (process 209).
An e-mail using the communication management report created in the process 208 as the body information and the header information created in the process 209 as header information is transmitted to the mail server SM (process 210), and this operation ends.

On the other hand, the content of the received command mail does not request transmission of the communication management report,
If the result of step 07 is NO, a process corresponding to the content of the command mail received at that time is executed (process 2).
11), this operation ends.

If the received electronic mail is not a command mail and the result of the judgment 204 is NO,
The e-mail received at that time is an e-mail for an image information transmission request from a user of any of the workstation devices WS.

Therefore, in this case, the destination is recognized from the received e-mail (process 215), and the image information part of the body information of the e-mail is subjected to inverse MIME conversion to create image information data (process 216). .

Next, processing 2 is performed using the network controller 11.
A call is made to the destination recognized in step 15 (process 217), a predetermined pre-transmission procedure is executed with the partner terminal, a transmission function to be used at that time is set (process 218), and a predetermined modem training procedure is performed. To determine the modem speed to be used at that time (process 219), and transmit the image information created in process 216 according to a predetermined transmission procedure (process 22).
0).

When the image information transmission is completed, a predetermined post-transmission procedure is executed (step 221), and when the line is restored (step 2).
22) Then, communication history information including predetermined information is created and stored (process 223), and this operation ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, the network facsimile machine FX creates and stores communication history information every time a transmission / reception operation is performed. Since a communication management report created based on multiple pieces of communication history information is sent to the sender by applying e-mail,
The administrator user operates the network facsimile machine F
This is very convenient because the communication status of X can be properly known.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the communication management report is requested by the command mail has been described. However, other commands, such as a command for requesting a report report of the device setting content and a request for updating the device setting content, are provided. For example, it is possible to request the network facsimile apparatus to execute another appropriate command such as a command to execute the command by using an electronic mail.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The network facsimile machine FX creates and saves communication history information for each transmission / reception operation, and upon receiving a command mail requesting the transmission of a report, sends a command mail to the source of the command mail based on the plurality of communication history information. Since the created communication management report is transmitted by applying an e-mail, the administrator user can appropriately know the communication status of the network facsimile machine FX, which is very convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a network facsimile machine FX.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process executed by the network facsimile machine FX regarding a transmission / reception operation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a process executed when the network facsimile machine FX receives an electronic mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 FX network facsimile machine WS, WS1-WSn workstation device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Connected to the Internet,
A network facsimile communication system including a network facsimile apparatus for exchanging facsimile data with a facsimile apparatus using a predetermined facsimile transmission procedure via a public network, and one or more workstation apparatuses connected to the Internet. In the control method, the network facsimile machine forms and stores communication history information, and the user of the workstation device requests the network facsimile machine to send a communication management report using electronic mail. When the network facsimile apparatus receives the e-mail associated with the transmission request for the communication management report, the network facsimile apparatus creates a communication management report in a predetermined format based on the stored communication history information, and stores the contents of the communication management report. For that sending the requesting user, the control method of the network facsimile communication system and transmits using electronic mail.